This is a weird film, to say the least. The actors are excellent, especially Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow, but the script is more than morbid and getting constantly worse. The story in itself is interesting, a mother who has lost her daughter is approached by a young girl who has lost her mother, they find each other, and although Elizabeth Taylor clearly understands that Mia Farrow is demented, she accepts her confidence, as she misses her daughter as much as Mia Farrow misses her mother. The problem is that Mia Farrow is totally delusional without any sense of realism, she cannot understand her delusion herself, which must lead them both into trouble, as some kind of awakening becomes inevitable. Robert Mitchum plays some kind of a villain of the same kind as in Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter", a seducer but a rather benevolent one, without being able to control himself and without realising what consequences it could have to the girl. Elizabeth Taylor can't stop that process, and there is a tragedy. The film and its story don't make much sense, the dialog is generally irrational, while the film is typical of Joseph Losey and his penchant for morbidity. Every time I see a film of his I decide never to see any more of them, but still there are exceptions of real quality, like "The Sleeping TIger" 1954. I was hoping for this one to be another of those qualified exceptions, but it was not: good actors wasted on a crooked tale.
Review of Secret Ceremony
